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Tuesday, May 6, 2014

What a weekend!

Saturday dawned nice and early for us thanks to my two little alarm clocks and I hurried to get us out the door for park run. I had forgotten how much longer it will take to get them dressed and out the door now that the cooler weather has kicked in, and didn't that happen quickly! Anyone who lives in Brisbane is currently wondering whatever happened to Autumn? We were hot last week and freezing this week, I noticed with irony this evening as I was folding the kids clean laundry that there was an equal mix of tracksuit pants and shorts in there, but I digress.
Saturday was cold, so cold, and then add the wind factor being close to the river and the pram ended up feeling like a parachute to push ahead of me through the head wind, I was exhausted by the time we were finished, and it was by far my worst time on that course. I still managed to come 6th in my Category so I assume everyone struggled with it. It did mean that I could let go of the pram and trust it wouldn't move very far which made for a fun photo. The wind on Saturday held nothing however to the wind on Sunday!

I was pumped for Sunday, my first big ride on the bike with 2000 other people doing various distances and elevations. I opted for the 50 km ride and I have never been more grateful for thinking small. I haven't spent much time on the bike lately so was a bit concerned about my fitness, but that turned out to be the least of my concerns after checking the weather and discovering that the low was 6 degrees with wind gusts of 20-30 km. I started riding in the summer and have absolutely no winter gear so I was panicking slightly about what on earth I was going to wear that would keep me warm, the short answer is nothing, as I found out. I managed to source some extra layers and purchased a fleece vest for my birthday which was my savior, but even that wasn't enough, it was brutal. In the end this ride wasn't about enjoyment but endurance, the wind sliced through every layer, almost blew me off the bike countless times and I lost track of the hills I climbed, by the last one I was cranky, so cranky I am pretty sure anyone near me would have heard me swearing the whole way up and not in a particularly lady like fashion. I was bored, wind swept, freezing cold and hungry, by the time that finish line loomed ahead of me the best I could manage for the photographer was a grimace, I looked happier half way through my half marathon then I did at the end of this easy ride.

I am pleased I did it, I learnt that I need more time on the bike, more time doing hills and more winter gear than I first thought!

Mum managed to climb Mt Cootha and ride 75 km's the route taking her right past my house, I have no idea how she managed to continue on, knowing that I have a coffee machine and hot shower right there, she is made of better stuff then me, I am 90% sure I would have stopped, said to hell with it, and picked the car up later!

The icing on the cake for my red tinged wind burnt face was waking up Monday morning to a glorious winter day, beautiful blue sky, not even the hint of a breeze, absolutely perfect cycling weather, also, to those with access to a heated pool, the perfect active recovery from a hard day on the bike.